This week, I challenge you to decide one cause you want your money to serve, and one thing besides money, like an hour or a skill, that you will give to it.
My brother is a pilot in the United States Navy, and he chose that. He chooses it again every day he puts the uniform on, which is something I can describe but have never had to do myself.
Today is Veterans Day, so he’s on my mind more than usual. It got me thinking about what the rest of us do with what we have when someone else is giving up so much. I’m not telling you this to pat myself on the back, because whatever I do is small next to what he does.
So here is what I’ve been wondering, and I think it’s a fair question for anyone who has built up wealth. What is your money actually for? Most of us spend decades building it and almost no time deciding what it’s for.
What I could do with what I have
I am not a pilot, so I asked myself what I do have, and the honest answer was some disposable time and a little discretionary money. A few years ago I decided to point both at something that honors what my brother does.
I serve on the Young Professionals Board for the Folds of Honor North Texas chapter, and I give to the organization as well. Folds of Honor provides educational scholarships to the spouses and children of service members who have died or been disabled in service, and to the families of first responders. It was started by Lt Col Dan Rooney, an F-16 pilot in the Oklahoma Air National Guard, after a flight home from his second tour in Iraq, where he watched the remains of a fallen service member returned to his family. According to the organization, 91% of its annual expenses support scholarship programs.
I am not telling you this because Folds of Honor needs to be your cause. It probably shouldn’t be unless it means something to you. I am telling you because I had to answer a question that most people never ask out loud, which is what I wanted my money to do besides sit there.
Your money is a tool
Here is one way to think about whether your own giving matters. Giving USA reports that individuals gave about $392 billion in 2024, which was roughly two-thirds of all the charitable giving in the country. In other words, most of the money that does good comes from regular people deciding, one at a time, to point some of theirs somewhere. A lot of people are already using their money as a tool, and the only question is whether you are doing it on purpose.
Start with who, not where
Most giving starts with a request, which means it lands wherever someone happened to ask.
The rest is in your inbox.
How to choose who your giving serves, how much of your plan could support it, and how to give more than money. Drop your email and I’ll send you the full piece, plus a new decision every Wednesday.
Sources: Giving USA 2025 (individual giving in 2024); Folds of Honor, “About Us” (mission, founder, expense ratio, as reported by the organization). The $3 million and $3.6 million figures are a hypothetical example for illustration only.
Insights, advice, and comments provided by RJ Finley and members of the Decidedly Wealth Management team should not be considered personalized financial advice or recommendations. This content is produced solely for informational and educational purposes. For personalized guidance, book a free conversation.
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